March 25, 2018

Bates baseball scores four in the ninth to defeat UMass.-Dartmouth 4-3

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BOSTON, Mass. -- The Bates baseball team tallied only one hit on the day but scored four runs in the ninth inning to stun the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth by a score of 4-3 Sunday afternoon. 

The Bobcats (3-6) trailed the Corsairs (9-3) 3-0 entering the top of the ninth. 

Senior Connor DiVincenzo (Westwood, Mass.) got hit by a pitch to start the frame. He advanced to second on a passed ball and first-year Noah Loughlin (Mililani, Hawaii) drew a walk. Sophomore Leo Watson (Indianapolis, Ind.) followed with a walk of his own to load the bases with nobody out.

Junior Dan Trulli (Melrose, Mass.) stepped to the plate and hit a high chopper to third. The Corsairs tried to get the out at second but failed and everyone was safe. DiVincenzo scored to cut the deficit to 3-1. 

Sophomore Jack Arend (Newfields, N.H.) stepped to the plate and got hit by the pitch, driving in a run and trimming the Corsairs' lead to 3-2. 

That chased reliever Robbie Carrillo from the game and Logan Maitland entered the contest for UMass.-Dartmouth. Maitland struck out the first batter he faced but sophomore Kyle Carter (Plantation, Fla.) reached on a fielder's choice to drive in the tying run. Then sophomore Pat Beaton (West Newbury, Mass.) recorded the Bobcats' first and only hit of the game, a single to right field to drive in Trulli, putting Bates up 4-3. 

Senior captain Jake Shapiro (Sandy, Utah) came in to pitch in the bottom of the ninth for Bates. He struck out Erick Ramirez to start the frame and got Kenny Michael to fly out to center. Mitch Baker singled through the left side for the Corsairs' seventh hit of the game. But Shapiro got Mike Knell to ground out to end the game, securing his first save of the season.

Senior captain Connor Russell (Cumberland, Maine) started the contest for the Bobcats on the mound. He struck out a career-high eight batters over seven innings of work. Russell allowed two runs on four hits and did not walk anybody. Matt Cronin started for UMass.-Dartmouth and did not allow a hit while striking out five in three innings of work. He walked one batter before leaving the game with an injury. Zack Reid picked up where Cronin left off and tossed five innings of no-hit ball, walking one and striking out three.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the seventh. Nate Tellier led off the inning with a double. One out later, Michael doubled him home to put the Corsairs up 1-0. Baker reached on an infield single and Michael advanced to third. Then the Corsairs pulled off a double steal to go up 2-0. Russell ended the inning by striking out Knell and Arend threw out Baker trying to steal third base. 

The Bobcats went down in order in the top of the eighth and sophomore Miles Michaud (Madison, Conn.) entered the contest to pitch for Bates in the bottom half of the frame. With one out, Mac Curran reached on an infield single. Zach Courier reached on a fielder's choice and stole second base. Then Josh O'Neil doubled him home to extend the Corsair lead to 3-0.

Michaud got Tellier to ground out, ending the inning. He picked up the win after Bates scored four in the top of the ninth and Shapiro closed out the victory. 

The Bobcats played flawless defense on the day while the Corsairs committed a pair of errors. Bates drew four walks at the plate while Bobcat pitching did not issue any bases-on-balls. 

Bates looks to win its fourth straight game this Tuesday when the Bobcats travel to Endicott for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch.